Spring 2005 Activities at
The University of Arizona

• CEMELA Cohort 1

  CEMELA-UA welcomes the first professional development cohort of middle school mathematics teachers! Cohort 1 consists of teachers from two local middle schools in the Tucson Unified School District and two local Middle Schools in the Sunnyside Unified School District. These teachers will take a series of graduate courses at the University of Arizona, in addition to participating in CEMELA research projects and school-based lesson study groups to help them examine the teaching of mathematics to Latino/a students. The first course the teachers are taking began the Spring 2005 semester and is entitled Math 505c: Algebra for Elementary and Middle School Teachers. Other courses include Math 505d: Data Analysis and Probability for K-8 Teachers; Math 505e: Number and Operations for K-8 Teachers; Math 505f: Geometry and Measurement for K-8 Teachers; and Math 595f: Topics in Mathematics for Elementary and Middle School Teachers.
  

• Study Group

  The goal of the study group is to provide a supportive environment for teachers to engage in reflection on their own practice. For example, the teachers in a study group may choose to work on strengthening their students’ understanding of a specific topic in mathematics, or they may be interested in developing their students’ ability to use writing in mathematics. Teachers in the study group will:

  • Analyze samples of students’ work to look for possible topics to pursue. (Eventually, we would like to look at samples of students’ work across sites, that is among the different CEMELA study groups.)
  • Engage in explorations of mathematics to enhance their own understanding of some topics.
  • Discuss relevant resources that look at the interaction among language, culture and mathematics, particularly as it applies to working with Latino students.
  • Use an array of hands-on materials, exemplary and innovative curriculum materials, and video cases for professional development.
  • Have the opportunity to engage in action-research.
  The first Study Group began in February 2005. CEMELA researchers and six teachers from a local Elementary School (TUSD) (grades 3, 4, and 5) are meeting after school every other week. We are looking forward to rich conversations about mathematics teaching and learning!
  
  

• Math For Parents Workshops

  These workshops are modeled in part after the Math For Parents mini-courses from MAPPS http://math.arizona.edu/~mapps. Our goals in these CEMELA workshops are to encourage parents to explore mathematics as learners themselves, introduce parents to examples from the curriculum and activities being used in their children’s mathematics classes, and engage in a dialogue with the parents about their uses of mathematics in everyday life as well as about their views on the teaching and learning of mathematics.
  

  Math for Parents workshops at a local Elementary School in TUSD began in January 2005. Per the parents’ request, this first set of workshops focuses on fractions. There are 10 to 15 mothers attending these workshops, which are facilitated in Spanish and English. We meet during the school day, for 2 hours, approximately every other week.

  Math for Parents workshops at the second Elementary School in Sunnyside Unified School District began in March 2005. Per the parents’ request, this first set of workshops focuses on numbers, operations, and strategies for computation. There are 7 to 10 mothers attending these workshops, which are facilitated in Spanish. We started meeting every Wednesday from 8 to 10 am and starting in May, we will be meeting every Wednesday from 8 to 9 am.

• After School Program

  The after-school program at the University of Arizona has begun its first semester. The goal of the after school is to bring together elementary school students from the fourth and fifth grades, all of whom have an affinity toward mathematics, but different levels of understanding of the subject.

  The after-school program is facilitated by CEMELA Fellows with the help of undergraduates. The after-school meetings began on Monday, February 14, 2005 at the TUSD Elementary School, and subsequent meetings, are held every Monday and Friday that school is in session.